Mayor to host meeting on gay center building plan

Carol Ness, OF THE EXAMINER STAFF

Published 4:00 am, Friday, December 12, 1997

1997-12-12 04:00:00 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Stung by loud opposition to their plan to demolish a 103-year-old Victorian, planners of a new gay community center have agreed to discuss alternatives, with help from Mayor Brown.

As a result, next Wednesday's hearing on landmark status for the Victorian at 1800 Market St. is being postponed until Jan. 21, the Landmarks Preservation Advisory Board agenda revealed Thursday.

Community center board members and representatives of the preservationist group San Francisco Heritage were invited to a meeting in the mayor's office some time next week, both sides said.

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Heritage, which has consulted with preservationist architects and structural engineers, will present alternatives to the building's destruction, according to Executive Director David Bahlman.

The mostly gay Friends of 1800 Market Street had not been invited to the meeting as of Thursday, a source said.

The community center board, which originally had vowed to incorporate the Victorian into a large new gay center, stirred up protest from both groups when it changed its mind, citing up to $2 million in unanticipated costs for the building's renovation. Total project cost stands at $9.5 million.

Brown, who is a big supporter of the gay community center, has backed the board's intention to tear down the Victorian. But faced with a split in the community, the board has agreed to sit down with Heritage under the mayor's aegis.

"One of the mayor's great skills is his ability to help people find a meeting of the minds and accommodate both sides," said Brown's spokeswoman, Kandace Bender.

"There are good-faith talks going on."

Community Center Project spokesman Scott Shafer said Brown "wants us to resolve the differences that exist but to do in a way that results in a safe, affordable, accessible building." &lt;